1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a data processing apparatus capable of improving processing capacity, or reducing power consumption, of a plurality of data processing apparatuses that are connected to a network. In particular, the present invention further relates to an image forming apparatus, an image forming method, and a printing system that are capable of improving processing capacity, or reducing power consumption, of an entire network to which the plurality of data processing apparatuses are connected.
2. Description of Related Art
In recent years, a great amount of data is being produced at offices, and there has been an increasing demand for high speed processing of such data. Examples of data processing required at offices include: producing image data based on a print request, recognizing characters in character data that has been read by a scanner, enlarging, reducing, and rotating image data, recognizing an image in inputted image data, separating areas in inputted image data, translating from a first language (e.g. Japanese) into a second language (e.g. English), compressing data to be transmitted or stored in a memory, decompressing compressed data, encrypting data to be transmitted, and decoding of encrypted data. Such data processing is typically performed by an apparatus in which data is generated or by an apparatus having data processing capacity, in response to a processing request.
However, in some offices, various apparatuses, such as a personal computer, a MFP (Multi Function Printer), a facsimile machine, and a server are connected to a network, and may be commonly used. In addition, there are cases where it is possible to utilize an apparatus capable of processing data more efficiently. Accordingly, with such a network to which various apparatuses are connected, it is desired to accommodate data processing capacity of apparatuses as system resource, thereby utilizing an apparatus having superior data processing capacity, or an apparatus capable of processing data with more efficient power consumption. The data processing as described above utilizes the data processing capacity of a data processing apparatus other than the data processing apparatus that has generated the data, thereby allowing data processing at a higher speed for a user. Further, processing with low energy may be realized for an entire network. It is particularly desired that an image forming apparatus may be operated with efficient power consumption by accommodating data processing capacity of a printer controller.
There have been known patents addressing to the above requests. For example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2004-46774 discloses a technique in which a server selects, in view of power conservation and processing speed, an image forming apparatus to perform image processing and image formation. Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2005-85164 is for a multi processor system deciding an optimal operating point in view of both power conservation and processing performance. Specifically, No. 2005-85164 discloses a technique for selecting the optimal operating point that has been previously calculated based on relation between frequencies and operating voltage in accordance with job processing, and having the multi processor system operate at the operating point. Further, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2002-169676 discloses a technique in which, based on available memory and data processing capacity of a plurality of client terminals and a plurality of printers that are connected to a network, a server allocates data processing required to process a print request to each client terminal and each printer, thereby performing data processing efficiently.
According to Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2004-46774, it is possible to perform printing at a maximum speed with minimum power consumption by selectively using an image forming apparatus connected to a network. Further, according to Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2005-85164, it is possible to select an optimal operating point for a multi processor in view of power consumption and processing capacity, and to operate the multi processor at the operating point. Moreover, according to Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2002-169676, it is possible to process data within a short period of time, effectively utilizing available capacity of a client terminal or a printer that is connected to a network.
In the mean time, as data processing apparatuses and image forming apparatuses in recent years have increasingly become highly functional and high speed, processors for data processing and peripheral devices that are built into such data processing apparatuses and image forming apparatuses have also become highly functional and high speed, with increased power consumption. In addition, in order to accommodate various users with different needs, the data processing apparatuses and the image forming apparatuses include a variety of models with different specifications and capabilities, such as a low speed model, a high speed model, and a low power consumption model. The present invention intends to have an entire network printing system virtually share and accommodate system resource on a network to which devices with various specifications and capabilities as described above, in particular, calculation capacity and data processing capacity of a printer controller, thereby operating the network as a whole based on efficient correlation between processing capacity and power consumption.
To this end, the present invention improves the data processing capacity or the power consumption efficiency for an entire network, by allocating the calculation capacity and the image processing capacity provided to a processor and a peripheral function unit of the data processing apparatus or the image forming apparatus to a data processing apparatus or an image forming apparatus on the network based on the correlation between the data processing capacity and the power consumption. In other words, the present invention provides a data processing apparatus, an image forming apparatus, an image forming method, and a printing system that improve the data processing capacity or the power consumption efficiency. Further, the present invention provides an apparatus for forming an image using an image forming apparatus that has been specified.